Restrictive Vending Nutrition Bill In California Dies In Committee For The Year

Aug 29, 2011

A California bill would have required 50 percent of products in vending machines on state property comply with the nutritional standards by 2016 will not be considered this year by the senate appropriations committee, according to Sandra Larson, senior director and counsel of government affairs for the National Automatic Merchandising Association. Larson said the bill will not be considered this year thanks to the efforts of California Automatic Vendors Council (CAVC) and its lobbyist.

Current law requires that 35 percent of products in vending machines on state property comply with these nutritional standards.

The bill was introduced by Assembly Member Holly Mitchell, D-Calif., and originally required that 100 percent of products comply by 2016

CAVC opposed this measure throughout the session, arguing that the current requirements are adequate and that imposing these restrictions places vendors at a competitive disadvantage when cafeterias and other food outlets on state owned property would have been allowed to continue to sell the same snack and beverage items without the restrictions imposed on vending operators. CAVC members lobbied against the bill during their legislative day in May and sent letters and emails to their representatives asking that they oppose the bill.